View full sizeBruce Ely, The OregonianA fan favorite, Gerald Wallace draws energy from the Rose Garden crowd. Without their support, he hasn't played as well on the road.

Usually, it takes coaches a quarter, sometimes a half to decipher whether a certain player is on that night. But when it comes to Trail Blazers forward Gerald Wallace, coach Nate McMillan says he knows long before the game starts.

All it takes is one look.

"I know when he doesn't have it," McMillan said. "I can see it when he walks in. He's slow. He's sitting down. He's kind of relaxed, not moving around as much. And he will look at me, and I will look at him. And I know. I've been able to recognize it."

Wallace, McMillan reasons, plays so hard, so often that sometimes there is no energy left in his body when he arrives at the arena. The antidote, the Blazers have found, is the Rose Garden crowd. Feeding off the electricity of one of the NBA's best home crowds, Wallace has more easily become rejuvenated at home this season, where he has been a terror, averaging 20.1 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 63.2 percent from the field.

Gerald Wallace home vs. road

Points

Rebounds

Assists

FG%

Home

20.1

6.0

2.8

63.2

Road

4.7

3.2

1.0

16.0

The problem is, the Blazers only play half of their 66-game schedule in the Rose Garden. And when Wallace can't soak in the infectous energy from the home crowd, he has gone from Superman to Clark Kent. In three road games, Wallace is averaging 4.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 16.0 percent from the field (4-for-25). His road woes include a scoreless game at the Clippers and a 1-point game at Phoenix.

Considering how important Wallace is to the Blazers, it's not surprising then that the Blazers have been a drastically different team at home than on the road. They are 6-1 in the Rose Garden and 1-2 on the road as they embark on a six-game trip with the first game Friday in San Antonio, where the Spurs are 7-0.

It's why everyone is so curious to see what happens to the Blazers on their first trip of more than two games. After San Antonio, the Blazers go to Houston then New Orleans, followed by stops in Atlanta, Toronto and Detroit.

Is Wallace going to continue to be the hot-at-home, cold-on-the-road player? Is the team going to continue its trend of looking like it can contend for the division title one night, like it did during consecutive wins at Oklahoma City and at home over the Lakers, only to turn around and get routed in its next game, like it did at Phoenix?

"This is when you really find out about teams, how they play on the road," guard Wesley Matthews said. "We need to bring our own juice, our own crowd. Otherwise, it will be a long trip."

The Blazers say they believe they are equipped to be a good road team. They have three key attributes shown by good road teams of the past: talent, depth and experience. LaMarcus Aldridge said the Blazers also have another quality that goes into road success: Chemistry.

"I feel like this group, more than any team in my life, has the best chemistry," Aldridge said. "We all have the same goal: you don't have guys sulking or mad about their roles. We are not going on the road and looking at it as 'Oh, I'm out of Oregon, let's enjoy life.' We are looking at it as, 'Let's get better as a team.' In the past, we have tried to be good. I feel like we are trying to be the best this year."

But for all of their talent, depth, experience and togetherness, these Blazers so far have also shown one common downfall: Inconsistency.

And nobody illustrates that dichotomy more than Wallace.

And nobody wants to talk less about it than Wallace.

"I don't have any comment on that," Wallace said tersely.

When pressed, Wallace relented.

"I don't see anything to it right now," Wallace said. "It's still early in the season. It's just me adjusting to this season and the schedule. We as a team have to get going on the road, because not only my play has been sluggish, but the whole team has been sluggish on the road compared to at home. But I think this trip will give us a good opportunity to figure out our identity on the road."

It also figures to test McMillan and his substitution patterns. In the first 10 games, McMillan has used primarily seven players – the five starters and Jamal Crawford and Nicolas Batum –with short stints from Kurt Thomas. By Saturday in Houston, the Blazers will be playing their fifth game in seven nights, probably meaning spot duty will be given to Nolan Smith, Craig Smith and possibly Chris Johnson.

One thing is for certain, McMillan said: He will keep a close eye on the fuel tank of Wallace.

"On the back-to-backs, he's the one guy I really try to look at closely," McMillan said. "He puts so much into every game, that in that second game, I may need to get him out quick so that he can get his second wind, then get him back in there. I'm trying to learn how to coach him."